Automatic elevator-door



' AUTOMATIC ELEVATOR-noon;

To all whom it may concern: g

. Be it known that I, JAMES R. MoGnE, a citizen ofthe United States, and resident of Milwaukee, in the countyofMilwaukee and State of Wisconsin, have invented certain new and useful "Improvements in Automatic Elevator-Doors; and I do'hereby declare,

that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

- My invention relates to new and useful 7 improvements in doors for the passage-openings of elevator shafts, and more particularly of that type adapted to be automatically opened and closedupon movement of the elevator with respect to the opening.

It is in general the object of my invention to simplify and otherwise improve the structure,and to increase the efficiency and ease.

of operation of devices of this character.

It is further my object to provide an improved latch arrangement for locking the elevator door in closed position, which latch is releasable upon movement of the elevator theretoward in either direction.

A further object resides in the provision of an automatically operable 7 door member movable inja vertical direction to and from its closing position, and provided with means 1 r for effecting detachable lever. connection with the elevator upon movement thereof adjacent the door whereby to effect opening or closing movement of the door.

. WVith the above and other objects and advantages in view, which will'be apparent as the description proceeds, my invention resides in-the novel features of construction, combination and arrangement of parts, which will be hereinaftermore particularly described and defined by I the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings -Figure 1 is an elevational view of an automatic elevator door and operating mecha" nism constructed in accordance with my invention.

Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional view through the actuating lever and latch mechanism, the general plane of this section being indicated by the line 22 of Fig. 1.

Referring now more particularly to the accompanying drawings, 5 designates conven tionally one of the floors of a building through which extends. the shaft of an elevator A which, in the present structure, constitutes a primary actuating means for effecting opening and closing movements of a Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 15, 1920.

' Application filed September 16, Mala-Serial No. 324,210.

door B associated with the entrance passage of the elevator shaft. This door is conventionally shown as comprising a slatted struc ture, and is slidably mounted in vertical.

angle iron trackwaysG extending through and below the floor 5 whereby the door 3 i may move below the floor to open the passage. For moving the door, upper links of a series of lazy tongs 7 are pivoted at horizontally spaced points 8 to the upper portion of the door, the lower links ofthe tongs being pivoted on a bolt 9 projecting from the front wall of the elevator shaft below the lower limit of movement of the door B. 'A lever 10- is intermediately pivoted also on this bolt, and this lever is connected with the adjacent cross pivot of the series of lazy tongs by a link 11 whereby rocking movement of the lever will procure extension and retraction of the lazy tongs to raise and lower the gate, it being noted that the hori zontal spacing of the'pivots 8 procures a two-point lifting action preventing possi:

bility of binding engagement of the gate in its tracks. i

The gate is normally held in raised position by a latch bar 12 longitudinally carried by the lever 10 and slidable in guides 13 on said lever, a latch projection liextending inwardly from the'latch bar through a slot in the lever and being engageable in there with the axis of the lever. 10 and the latch bar a is yieldably urged to engage its projection in the recess of the keeper plate by a spring 17 coiled on the latch bar. Eachend of the lever 10 is provided with divergent branches,

and each end of the latch bar 12 is provided with correspondingly divergent branches which are offset laterally of the plane of the latch bar, the latch bar branches 12 which are disposed at the end of the lever lowermost when the gate B is closed being engageable against the branches of the lever thereadj acent. The latch bar branches 12 at the normally uppermost end of the lever are carried by an ofi'set'latch bar portion movablebetween the adjacent branches of the lever. v 1 The elevator A carries a pair'of abutment arms X and Y which are disposed below the body of the elevator and which are engageable with the latch bar branches 12 and 12 respectively, the arm X being disposeda considerable distance below the garm Y,

7 whereby said arms are spaced apart both longitudinally and transversely of the-path of movement of the elevator.

. In Fig. 1, the various parts are shown in position immediately prior to opening the door B, upon downward movement of-the-elevator. In this operation, the abutment arm X engages the uppermost latch bar branch 12 and exerts a camming action to "move said bar outwardly and thus retract the latch projection 141, permitting the doorto dropto openposition. As'thistakes place,

the other end of the lever is swung upwardly and asthe elevator moves downwardlyfromv the "landing,'the'abutment arm Y will engage in the branches 12to swing-the lever i in either direction.

.the tongs, a lever 10 in a reverse dire'ctionand raise the door to closing position, the latch projection 14 moving into the recess of the latch plate 15 as the arm Yleaves'the lever, to hold'the door raised. "Should the elevator move'upwardly instead of downwardly from the r floor 5, the abutment arm Xwould engage anism for p'ro'curlng proper opening and closing movements of the door of an elevator shaft automatically upon movement of the elevator toward or away therefrom It is noted that "the branched ends of th'elatch'bar 12 form shiftable portions'of'the lever'unit.

While Ihave shown and described a preferred embodiment'of my invention, it will be appreciated that various changes and modifications of structure may be employed to -meet differing conditions of use and manufacture, without departing in'any mannerfrom'the scope of'the appended claims.

VVhat is claimed is: g 1. Astructure offthe class described comprising a pair of trackways, a door slidable with respectto said trackways, a set of lazy tongs having one end connected with said door, a stationary pivot for the other end of pivoted intermediate its ends on said stationary pivot and connected with said lazy tongs, and'primary actuating means' movable into engagement with the opposite ends of said lever to successively move the door from open to closed position and vice versa 2. A structure ofthe class described com- ".prising a pair of trackways, a door slidable with respect to said trackways, a set of lazy tongs having one end'connected with said door, a stationary pivot for the other end of the Ftongs,a pivoted lever engageable by .a primary actuating member moving in the direction of movement of the-door,said lever being connected "with the lazy "tongs, and latch meansfior holding said door against movement, said m'eans beingreleasable incidental to engagement of a primary actuating member with'the lever.

'3. A structure of the class prising a pair'of trackways, a door slidabl'e with respect to said trackways, a set of lazy tongs having one end connected with said door, a stationary pivot for the otherends oi' the tongs, an intermediately pivoted lever connected withthe lazy tongs; primary actu-' ating "means engageable "with either 'endof the lever, and latch means for holding said door against movement, said means being releasable incidental to "engagement of "the primary actuating means with either-end oi the lever. i I

4. A structure otthecla'ss describedcomprising "a'pair'oftrackways, a door slid'able with respect to said tr'ackways, a set or lazy tongs having one end connected withsaid door, a stationary ivot forthe'other end described comof the tongs,"an intermediatelypivoted*lever connected with -the lazy *tongs, primary actuating means engageable with either end of the lever,"a "latch bar slidably is carried by said lever and 'engage'able *by the primary actuating means at "either end of the" lever, and latch i'means operable by said latch bar.

5. An automatically operable door mechanism comprising-a movable primary actuating means, a "movable door, abutment arms carried by said primary actuating means, said arms 'beingflspa'ced both transversely and longitudinally ofthe path of movement of the primaryactuatingmeans, an intermediately pivoted leverconnected "with the door for movement thereof and having its end portions successively engageable by the abutment 'ar'ms upon'movement of the primary actuating means 1n aslngle d1rect1on,and

, latch means fo'r holding said door against movement, said latch means being releasable incidental to" engagement of elther abutment arm withthe lever.

have hereunto set my hand at Milwaukee,

the county of Milwaukee and State of Wisconsin. 

